


Bats, Bugs and Besties

by BrokenWingedTenshi



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21848875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenWingedTenshi/pseuds/BrokenWingedTenshi
Summary: Just some drabbles from my stories that I find fun. These will mostly be one-shots and fun, short ideas that I have about the characters.Enjoy!
Relationships: Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Comments: 34
Kudos: 245





	1. Secret Identity Messenger Group Chat

**Author's Note:**

> After everybody finds out each other's identities, these are the kind of hijinx I can see them getting into.

Secret Identity Messenger GC  
(Marinette And True Heroism)

Nightwing- Kori's Booty Call  
Red Hood- Red Dead Redemption  
Red Robin- Best Detective  
Robin- Only Actual Wayne Here

[Red Dead Redemption added Red Lady]  
[Red Dead Redemption added Vixen]  
[Red Dead Redemption added Andrena]  
[Red Lady changed Red Dead Redemption's nickname to J-Bird]  
[J-Bird changed Red Lady's nickname to J's Future Wife]  
[Vixen changed their own nickname to Better Detective Than Tim]  
[Andrena changed their own nickname to BourgeoisBee]

[J-Bird]  
Welcome to the chat ladies! Any questions.  
[BourgeoisBee]  
Yeah, how do we change the chat bubble colors? I detest this shade of blue. It wants to be sky blue but it's not.  
[J's Future Wife]  
^^^  
[Better Detective Than Tim]  
Yeah, I get that. Settings menu and chat color. Pick a new color.  
[Best Detective]  
Who let Alya in here?  
[Better Detective Than Tim]  
Your brother who wants to marry my best friend 😇  
[Kori's Booty Call]  
Now play nice kiddies. I'm taking Kori and Mar'i out ice skating, so I won't be here to break up any fights.  
[Only Actual Wayne Here]  
You wouldn't stop anything anyways Grayson.  
[BourgeoisBee changed the chat colors]  
[BourgeoisBee]  
There, that's better.  
[J's Future Wife]  
No. That is a terrible purple. I'd rather have fake sky blue.  
[J's Future Wife reset the chat colors]  
[J's Future Wife]  
Chloe?  
[BourgeoisBee]  
Yes?  
[J's Future Wife]  
I love you but if you change it back to purple I break every bone in your hand.  
[J-Bird]  
Marinette?  
[J's Future Wife]  
Yes? 😇  
[J-Bird]  
I'm literally going to arrange a wedding so you walk into a room and suddenly you're standing in front of a bunch of people dressed to the nines, you're gonna get dragged away by a bunch of girls to go get ready, dragged back and you'll just have to marry me.  
[J's Future Wife]  
All that because I said I'd break Chloe's hand?  
[J-Bird]  
YES WOMAN  
[J's Future Wife]  
. . .  
Chloe let me see your hand.  
[BourgeoisBee]  
No! I didn't change the colour back! Leave my hand alone!  
[J's Future Wife]  
It's not that big a deal! Just let me shatter the bones in your hand!  
[BourgeoisBee]  
N O  
[J's Future Wife]  
I'll do all your homework until it heals.  
[BourgeoisBee]  
. . . Really?  
Wait NOOO! I NEED MY HAND! I DON'T NEED KIM RUSHING TO GOTHAM BECAUSE YOUR BOYFRIEND GETS A HARD ON WHEN YOU GET VIOLENT!  
[J-Bird]  
I mean- . . .  
Where's the lie?  
[J's Future Wife]  
👀  
[J-Bird]  
👀  
[Better Detective Than Tim]  
Get a room.  
[Best Detective]  
For once, I agree with the wild animal.  
Whoops, I meant woman.  
[J's Future Wife]  
. . . You've got five minutes to take it back. If I don't see an apology in five minutes, I will find you.  
[J-Bird]  
😍😍😍  
[Best Detective]  
Jason don't encourage her!  
[J-Bird]  
Sorry Timmy, you set yourself up for this one. I'm on her side.  
[J's Future Wife]  
4  
[Only Actual Wayne Here]  
Just apologize and get it over with.  
[Best Detective]  
Never!  
[J's Future Wife]  
3  
[Best Detective]  
Alya! Help a guy out?  
[Better Detective Than Tim]  
Sorry Tim. I wouldn't wish an angry Marinette on anyone, but you're screwed.  
[J's Future Wife]  
2  
[Best Detective]  
@Kori's Booty Call  
Help!  
[Kori's Booty Call]  
Uh . . . no. You're on your own.  
[J's Future Wife]  
1  
[Best Detective]  
Well, it's been nice knowing you guys. I'll see you on the other side.  
[J's Future Wife]  
Time's Up.  
[Best Detective has left the chat]  
[J-Bird]  
Update: Pretty sure they're in the Bat Cave, but I can hear Tim screaming from my room. I love that woman. 😍💞


	2. Damian and Marinette's Pet Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pets? Little monsters!  
Only for Damian though. No one misbehaves around Marinette.

Damian and Marinette's Pet Situation  
(If I Should Die)

"Get another dog, they said. It'll be fun, they said." Damian couldn't help but grumble. He huffed softly, sitting on the couch of his shared home with his soulmate. His arms were crossed over his chest, and be was brooding. It was likely the only thing keeping the two dogs from approaching. Because perched on his shoulder was Marinette's tabby kitten, eyeing them warily.

Titus, his dog that he'd brought with him from Gotham, was laying on the rug and watching with a vaguely amused expression. The two younger dogs were more volatile than his old friend. He was an animal person, but the constant fighting was starting to get on his nerves. Not that Titus was actually going to let the other dogs hurt the kitten. He'd taken a liking to her.

One of the two had come with Marinette when they'd moved in together, an impulsive great dane named.Chronus that was barely older than a pup. Mostly, he just didn't want to share his human. The other was a Labrador that Damian had adopted from the local shelter. They'd wanted to put her down, and he just wouldn't allow it. She was a beautiful dog, but she been through abuse. Malnourished and half frozen to death. He'd taken off his coat and wrapped her up in it to bring her home with him. He tried to remind himself of that so he didn't snap at their pets.

The kitten was a rescue of Marinette's. She had been a mangy little kitten, dirty and scared. Her fur had been matted and so dingy they'd barely been able to tell what she was. His soulmate had been calm and caring, talking to the little creature as she gently washed her clean, before wrapping her in a towel and taking her out of the little basin she'd used to wash the kitten. She'd fed her and gently ran her hands through the soft fur, brushing through it and untangling knots. She was looking a kit better, but still looked starved. Damian had been able to feel her ribs through the fur, and it tugged at his heart strings.

The kitten was doing better now too, but she was still rather slim. Damian barely felt her on his shoulder. His expression had softened unknowingly, and his Labrador, Rhea, started growling. At least, until a car door shut outside.

All the animals perked up, noses twitching and ears staining to pick up anymore sounds. He could tell when they heard her, because every last one of them made for the door except Titus, who cane over and hopped up on the couch to lay on his lap. He ran a hand through his old friend's fur and watched with a slightly bemused expression as his soulmate entered the door.

The younger animals went nuts, and she dropped her school bag and purse to indulge them. She gave praises and encouragement and the dogs rolled over on their stomachs for belly rubs. Her kitten, Tikki, rubbed herself on Marinette's legs and purred. She spent a few more minutes with their pets before coming over to give him a kiss and give Titus a good scratch. His dog licked her hand and went back to laying down, satisfied that he was still king in his domain. As far as he was concerned, they were his humans and the other pets were his subjects.

Damian sighed as Marinette sat down beside him, Tikki jumping up in her lap and curling up. Rhea and Chronus settled at her feet, and Damian rolled his eyes. Of course they behaved for Marinette. Everyone loved his soulmate.

Even the pets could feel that she wasn't someone to be trifled with. He laid on her shoulder, and she put her arm around him with a giggle. Enveloped in her baking bread and lilies of the valley scent, he considered that maybe he and their pets weren't so different in that respect.


	3. Circus of Shades (Maribat)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Wayne and the boys are NOT Vigilantes! They're just rich people. After his grandfather's disappearance, Damian's harsh mother who worked at a private school and treated him more like a student than her child, drops him off with Bruce and the boys. A circus conniseur who's parents were acrobats, a juvenile delinquent who'd taken up boxing in his spare time, a coffee dependent corporate savvy zombie and an altruist who can't stop picking up strays.
> 
> The Eldrich Horror circus AU no one asked for

The circus was always so full of memories for Dick. He visited whenever he could. Any circus that came to town, and some he even travelled to see. By now, he considered himself well versed in any circuses that came anywhere between Gotham and New York. But there was one he had always been curious about. The Circus of Shades was an annual event in Bludhaven. No one knew where it came from or why, and no one had ever seen it come or go. It just appeared a few days out of the year in a field that was empty the rest of the year.

As though no one dared put anything there for fear the circus wouldn't come. It was superstitious nonsense, every traveling circus could find new faire grounds, but he was a sucker for a bit of superstition anyways.

The excitement in the air was palpable, a low murmur rolling through the crowd as people wondered what was in store. They whispered about past experiences, but the ringleader changed the show every year. So no one was really sure. It made the crowd both uneasy and excited.

Taking his seat in the stands full of people, he bounced his leg a bit. The energy here was strange. It made him antsy, though he didn't know why. He was so used to the energy in places like this, but there was an undertone of something just out of his perception. He couldn't quite focus on what it was.

Then the lights were going out one by one, the ring master took the stage and Dick's pupils dilated. Ah, the ringmaster noted as he stepped into his place, spotlight coming on as he glanced up under the brim of his hat with mischievous green eyes. The show had begun.

~~~~~

Damian hadn't seen his oldest brother in a couple of days and he was worried. Sure Dick had gone off before, but he always told one of them before. So when someone noticed, probably when they were all gathered together and he was missing, at least one of them knew where he was.

But he hadn't. And that was concerning. He knew where he'd gone when he left though, so that was as good a place to start as any. It wasn't the first time he'd gone to get one of his brothers after an absence a little too long for his comfort without notice. They were prominent figures after all. Dick could've gotten into trouble. In any case, Damian was going to find out. 

The Circus of Shades was, in a word, unsettling. The scents wafting off the food stands were a hint too strong, the vendors' smiles too wide, the people looking his way a little too long. Damian wasn't sure what to think here. He was sufficiently uncomfortable, and while he would've usually chalked that up to his usual social anxiety, this felt different. Something was wrong here.

When he entered the Circus tent, the lights were dim and the air was smoky, voices muted in his ears. As though he were hearing them from underwater. He didn't let on than anything was wrong, making his way to a seat in the third row and pursing his lips as the lights began to go out one by one. Theatrics, just party tricks to get the audience's attention. Once the last of the lights went out, the ringmaster was illuminated by a spotlight, and Damian knew those eyes. Green as his own with a mischievous sparkle and laugh lines at his mouth. Pitch black hair and an ageless face, sweeping into a low bow and locking eyes with Damian in the crowd.

The boy uttered a single word.

"Grandfather."

Ra's al Ghul held a finger to his lips with a wink, continuing on with his show.

~~~~~

Well, he'd found Dick. He had apparently run off and join the circus. He said he'd been trying to reach the manor to tell them where he would be for the foreseeable future, but his phone wasn't working. He'd hoped he'd get the chance before the circus left for the season.

But he was . . . well, he was off. He smiled the whole time, which was normal for Dick. But his eyes were duller than normal, mouth strained by the motion as though he wasn't used to it. And he twitched every now and again, like his skin didn't fit quite right.

He should've known then that something was wrong, but his brother had always said that performing was a drug. The adrenaline, the lights, the applause, and Dick's performance had certainly gotten a lot of it. He moved in ways Damian didn't know the human body could. Just the wrong side of what he knew would break another person's bones. It should've been suspicious.

But Damian was glad to see his brother safe. Happy to see his grandfather again after so many years without. He had disappeared when Damian was ten, and shortly after that he'd been taken to stay with his father and brothers. Likely because his mother hadn't had the time for him, and without his grandfather around she had no one to look after him.

His grandfather was the first person he'd really trusted cared about him. And Dick was the second. He opened up to Damian far before their father had. It had been Dick to teach him what he wanted to know. Which was why Damian didn't question it when the two people he trusted most in the world told him they wanted to show him something.

He should have questioned it.

Why didn't he question it?

~~~~~

Jason didn't know what had happened. One day his brothers were there, and the next he was gone. He had no idea where they'd disappeared to, or why. There had been no ransom note, no phone call. Nothing. They were just gone. And as much as he denied that was what he was doing, Jason traveled the world looking for them.

Along the way, he met up with Gina Dupain, who had taken him in when he was a twelve year old runaway still fighting Bruce's adoption and taken care of him for a year. She had introduced him to everyone as her grandson, though she only had one son and he had a daughter, but no son. That was fine though.

Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng had taken one look at the way Gina held onto him and the glee in her features and immediately mentally branded him as their child. It helped that the could see some of the healed over scars beneath his rolled up sleeves in the Paris summer.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a little thing, who introduced herself in the bounciest way possible. She was always moving, tapping her toes, rocking on the balls of her feet, nodding her head to music he couldn't hear- anything she could do to vent energy. He had already mentally claimed her at his little sister anyways, but it did strengthen the case when he'd spotted little Nettie and some girls, with his baby sister looking close to tears. He loomed behind her, setting a hand to her shoulder and softening when she turned around.

"Hey, what's the matter Spitfire?"

Her lip quivered, and he pulled her close as the tears started to fall. She shook silently, and Jason could hear the obnoxious whispers.

** _'What a slut'_ **

** _'Where do you think she found him?'_ **

** _'Bet she's got like- four others she's stringing along'_ **

** _'Typical Maritrash, sleeping around to get what she wants'_ **

Jason felt a snarl leave his mouth, face twisting into something angry and ugly as he looked to the girls. The quieted in favor of shivering. Jason leaned down, voice softer than he felt.

"Nettie, I need you to go home and tell Gina I'm going to need an alley. Can you do that for me?"

She hesitated at the word he and Gina used instead of alibi, but nodded anyways.

"Be careful fraté."

He chuckled softly.

"Don't worry Spitfire, I'll be just fine."

She nodded and darted off, and Jason cracked his knuckles turning towards the gaggle of gaping teenage girls.

"So, which of you decided it was a good day to make my baby sister cry?"

The one in orange paled considerably.

_Bingo!_

_~~~~~_

_T_im didn't know what it was about the manor after Dick and Damian disappeared, but it was like he was always being watched. It was unsettling, but he was used to it. Everyone outside watched him all the time, why not inside too?

He wasn't sure if it was the increase in security measures and cameras since Bruce's panic three months after Damian's disappearance (three! He didn't notice two of his sons missing for three months!) or just the vague idea that someone might've Specifically targeted his brothers even while they were still here. But he was sure it was all in his head.

Because it had to be. There was no other explanation for the way Dick's eyes followed him from every picture of him in the manor. (And since his disappearance they were everywhere.) No other way to shove away the thought that he'd briefly seen Damian's eyes when he looked in the mirror before rubbing at his own baby blues and looking back to find only himself.

Maybe he should get some sleep.

. . .

Later.

He could sleep later.

~~~~~

It was Marinette's idea to visit Gotham, her parents having finally cleared her to go on a road trip with Gina and Jason now that she'd graduated high school. She was taking a year off from school to go abroad with them and deciding what she wanted to do. Not that she necessarily needed a degree, considering how high her custom commissions sold for. **_Fortune de Coccinelle_** was the go to brand of the rich and famous if they could get approved. Gina and Jason thought it was hilarious that she'd been making then for Jagged for years and Tim Drake, his most over the top fan grovelled in her email every couple of weeks begging for a commission.

Jason had finally convinced her to cut him some slack while they were in Gotham. So for Jason's 'Sorry for leaving you alone with our neurotic father for nine months' (Jason throwing a fit about Bruce's lack of awareness and storming out was how Bruce had found out two of his sons were even gone) gift, he was bringing Tim, Marinette. His favorite designer to make him a custom commissions. Hopefully that would keep his brother from hating him.

Marinette was more than willing, on the condition that when she finished, they visit a famous Circus she'd heard about a few hours away. The Circus of Shades, it was called. And Jason agreed, would have even if he didn't want her to make something for Tim because the gleam in her eyes made him happier than she would ever know. He did so love making his little sister happy. Even if the name of that circus niggled at something in at back of his mind and gave him a foreboding feeling. After all, he'd be there to protect her right?

~~~~~

_Wrong, wrong, so wrong._

The circus was so messed up. It was so wrong it made him want to scream but he couldn't even move as he stared down the thing in front of him. Vaguely, he could hear Marinette yelling at him in the background. She was being held by the smiling faces of his missing brothers, smiling like broken dolls with haunted looks in their eyes. The thing- for her did not know what else to call it- reared up on two legs that looked so unnatural and deformed he was finally snapped out of his fear enough to hear Marinette yell one word behind him. A visceral, wild scream .

**"JASON, RUN!"**

And he tried- he really did but the thing was faster than he was and he could hear his sister screaming for him in the background as it tore at him and crawled into his skin, covering him, making him small and isolated, able to see but never react or do anything of his own will as though his body now belonged to the thing.

When he stood with jerky motions, broken doll smile in place and broken look in his eyes, Marinette's face was stained with tears and she flinched away as the hand that was his but not dragged her forward by the hair.

"Come now little one, you will join your friends soon enough."

She spat at him, and he'd never been more proud as she tried to be brave.

"You will not keep them . . . My brothers are stronger than you!"

His heart warmed at her claiming Dick and Damian, knowing they needed her and she would do whatever she could to help them. Jason's face twisted into a more sinister grin. She swallowed, and his eyes followed followed there swallow down her neck and observed her body in a way that made his skin crawl. He would sooner stab out his own eyes and break all his own fingers than watch this thing violate his baby sister. The voice that came out of his mouth was so disturbed, it made him want to curl up and hide in a way he hadn't want to since he was seven, on the ground bleeding and watching his father drag his crying mother to their bedroom.

"Maybe so, but they will do as we say as long as we have you."

Marinette lifted her chin, glaring with eyes so cold they burned.

"I would sooner die."

The Not-Jason's mouth twisted into a snarl, and he clasped a hand around her throat.

"You will wish you had."

It killed him inside that he knew the thing was right.

~~~~~

Tim and Bruce had been told sufficiently by Gina that she would not let them sit by while her grandchildren were missing, and seeing as it was too early to file a Missing Person's report yet, she insisted the start an investigation on their own. Not that they had much choice as she dragged them out to the car, arms linked with theirs so tightly it almost hurt.

The drive to the circus was filled with chatter from the Italian woman about Jason and Marinette and the shenanigans they'd gotten into in Paris. Enough to make Tim wish he'd agreed to go with Jason when he'd angrily looked at him and demanded to know if he was coming. But Tim couldn't leave Bruce all alone in that big house aside from Alfred. Besides, Tim wasn't suited for life on the road.

Their arrival at the circus made even Gina fall silent. The air was oppressive, the people moved like they weren't entirety of sound mind and body, and the smells were so intense they made Tim want to retch. But none of that compared to the show.

The ringmaster's face made Bruce tense, narrowing his eyes as their gazes locked.

"Welcome," the ringleader intoned, "to the Circus of Shades! Say hello to our first act. Our very own Flying Waynes!"

People clapped loudly, deafeningly, and two separate spotlights shone on faces Tim hadn't seen in a little over a year. Dick and Damian moved fluidly, just past what the human body should be able to do. Otherworldly in their movements. Unsettling in their blissed out expressions.

The next act was an animal tamer, and it was Jason's face. Eyes nearly vacant as the lions circled him, looking more amused than anything as they 'obeyed'. It was more like he was their toy and they had trained him than anything.

The offered a dancer as the next performance, and there was sweet little Marinette in a red corset and tutu, showing off too much skin, face painted to look like a doll. Her smile was plastic and her eyes were dead, her movements not quite right. Like she were being jerked around by strings. Except- she was. Every now and then a glint in the air that disappeared before the common eye would even register it. But after years of watching for the slightest twitch in people's faces, both the Waynes in the audience and Gina spotted the literal strings that we tied to Marinette's limbs. Jerking her around in ways that amused the crowd but made Tim hold in the need to be sick.

~~~~~

The show was over soon enough, and they noted that there were more people when they'd walked in than there were now. But the ringleader was slipping back through the flaps in the tent and they couldn't not follow. This man had abducted their family.

Ra's looked back through the flap in the tent. Excellent, his quarry had taken the bait. Inwardly, he preened at the thought that soon the entire Wayne family would be his. Pretty and perfect little dolls. Just like they should have been from the very beginning. With the addition of two pretty dancers too. Sometimes it was very good to be him.


	4. Ozzie's Buttercups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hold up on a class trip to Gotham sees Marinette finally showing her idiot classmates that she should not be taken lightly . . . Ever.

Once Lila was outed on all her deceptions, her kingdom of cards fell crashing to the ground. It was a good day for Marinette, and she marked it, perhaps too soon, as the return of common sense for her class. She discovered later that it was, indeed too soon. Not because they avoided her like the plague- she expected that. But because the moment they turned on Lila they began to treat her the way they'd treated Marinette for almost three years.

Instead of holding a grudge and watching it all happen, which no one would've blamed her for doing, she got between Lila and her classmates. When she took the girl home, despite Lila's insistence that she was fine, she was horrified. The man in the couch smelled heavily of booze, various empty bottles littered around him. They snuck past to find Lila's mother in the kitchen on their way up the stairs. The woman pulled Lila aside with a grip that made her wince, and Marinette had to tamp down her anger as the woman hissed out words she probably thought Marinette couldn't hear.

But hear she did. Lila's mother berated her about being home late, though it was only by about five minutes. She scolded the girl for daring to bring anyone home because '_didn't I tell you to keep your head down you stupid child_' and Marinette cleared her throat. The woman turned to her with a smile Marinette knew was plastic.

"I'm sorry to intrude Mme. Rossi, but Lila got injured at school today and my parents are very worried about the marks the school nurse found on her. They'd like to see her tonight to make sure everything was alright. I brought Lila home to make sure that was alright and help her pack a bag for the weekend."

Marinette watched in amusement as the weekend eye twitched, and she responded in a saccharine tone that just about made the girl want to be sick.

"Of course. I was just talking to Lila about how messy her room is. If you would give us a moment?"

Marinette's expression quickly turned from genial to ice cold, the air lowering fifteen degrees and making Lila's mother shiver.

"With all due respect Mme. Rossi, you know as well as I do that Lila is meticulous when it comes to her things. I would like to inform you that I am not easily lied to. Your daughter already tried that. So I would suggest you take your hand off her before there's another bruise for my parents to find. They will not like that her own mother caused a thing like that."

The woman looked like she had swallowed something sour, face crumpling into something angry and ugly as her hand tightened around her daughter's arm.

"Listen here little girl-"

Marinette stepped forward and grabbed the woman's wrist right above where she was holding Lila, applying just enough pressure to lightly numb her wrist. The girl's bangs covered her eyes, and her temper flared like an icy blast.

"I said . . . Let. Her. Go."

The woman shuddered, fingers opening. Lila stumbled away, and Marinette kept her eyes down as she addressed her classmates.

"Lila, go on and get your bag. I'm going to have a little chat with your mother before we go."

Lila obeyed, scurrying off towards her room.

When she came back, her parents were sitting together on the couch, which in and if itself was unusual. No one was allowed to sit on the couch except guests. Her father had his hand on her mother's knee (her parents hardly ever touched, and it was never so friendly), and their faces had paled from their natural tanned tones to near white. In front of them, Marinette was standing with her arms crossed and a harsh expression.

Lila stumbled a bit, and Marinette turned to her, a bright smile lighting up her face.

"There you are. Are you ready?"

She swallowed hard, avoiding looking at her parents and nodding.

"Yes, I'm ready."

Marinette proceeded to come over and link arms with the italian, practically dragging her out the door with her duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She had packed more than a weekend's worth, but she had a feeling she wouldn't be coming back here. At least, no time soon. 

~~~~~

The class had backed off with Lila had started coming to class with Marinette. The girl did her best to keep Lila upbeat and as happy as she could be under the circumstances. Marinette's parents had taken her to see a CPS Worker, who'd had her examined by a medical professional. An investigation was currently being held, and as such, the Dupain-Cheng family had taken over the burden of legal guardianship over one Lila Esmeralda Rossi.

Marinette's parents were wonderful, giving her the guest room to decorate as she pleased, though she and Marinette had come to another agreement. The rearranged Marinette's room with a little help from Luka Couffaine and Kagami Tsurugi, friends of Marinette's and- now- of Lila's once they had heard about everything. She didn't think she'd ever be done apologizing to Marinette for making her life so hard. It was just that she had everything Lila had ever wanted. And maybe if she hadn't been such an insufferably brat, this could've happened much sooner.

In any case, Lila really did design. So she and Marinette had come to an agreement of sorts. They had taken out a good portion of Marinette's things from her bedroom and moved them to Lila's new room, which they had decided to share. In return, Marinette's old room would become their design studio. Mannequins, fabric scraps and chests full of materials littered the room. Along the walls there were four wardrobes for ongoing commissions, test pieces, and things they were making for themselves.

Seeing the quality of Lila's work, Marinette had rebranded and let Lila join her in designing. _Their_ brand was called Vibrancy, and it was a huge hit! They had been so successful their first few months, they had made official Twitter accounts with their separate logos 'LDC' and 'MDC' in beautifully stylized fonts, on sunset orange and crimson backgrounds respectively.

Their website had a function that would allow people to commission one or both of them for their services, and they got about equal requests. They had done audio only interviews and photo shoots with their friends modeling their test pieces. (As payment, those models either got to keep the test pieces or commission something similar.) Life was going great. A few months after their brand took off, Lila was officially out of her parents' custody for good. As such, Marinette's parents were given, and immediately took, the opportunity to adopt Lila. She changed her name, and it finally matched her logo.

It made Lila's heart soar. She had cried, and Marinette and their friends spent the night making her laugh at all their antics. Life was good.

~~~~~

Lila had never felt so free.

After Hawkmoth and Mayura had been defeated, leaving only the heroes behind, Chat Noir had rebelled. Adrien Agreste could simply not handle all the revelations regarding his family. And though Marinette, at the new guardian, had successfully managed to take the black cat from him, Adrien had absconded with the peacock miraculous Hawkmoth had fixed.

Marinette had then gathered her sister and her three best friends (Chloe had joined them shortly after Lila was officially adopted and was one of the few who knew the full story) in she and Lila's room. Their parents would barge into the design studio at any given moment, but as the girls were getting older they had stopped just walking into their room. Marinette had revealed her identity to them, and gifted each of them a miraculous.

To Luka, she gifted the snake. To Kagami, the dragon. To Chloe, the bee. And to Lila, who had pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, she gave a choice. Two kwamis had sat in her palms and talked with her, and though Lila's akumatized form had dealt with illusions, she had moved on and chose Trixx. Nooroo though, would often come out to see her and talk. The little kwami was a very dear friend, and she was happy to make his days a little more cheerful.

Lila became a hero, her costume a burnt orange with white fluff and a large, extremely fluffy tail. Her ears moved and actually enhanced her hearing very much. Her flute extended, much like Chat Noir's baton had, and she became Miss Guidance. Leading the citizens of Paris to safety and their tormentors to ruin.

~~~~~

For their senior class trip, Marinette and Lila had planned an excursion to Gotham City in America, complete with internships for the top five students in their class. They had chosen the timing strategically to match up with Luka and Kagami's cross country trips. It had mere coincidence (or luck, their kwamis liked to joke) that Luka's tour with his twin sister Juleka and their father Jagged Stone (Lila had totally called it) matched up with Kagami's worldwide training tour in Gotham. Where one of their uncles just so happened to live.

The trip was going great! Lila, Marinette, Max, Sabrina and Mylene had just completed the third day of their internship and met up with their class at Robinson Park. One of Poison Ivy's known hot spots, but she had given up crime years ago and opened up a little coffee shop with her wife Harley Quinn- Now Harleen Isley. And everything was fine . . . Until they were surrounded.

Everyone seemed quite cowed in the circle of armed thugs. Everyone, that is, except for Marinette, Chloe (who was being held up by their classmates) and Lila. But then, hardly anything phased them anymore. Not to mention, they knew those uniforms. Marinette just chuckled.

"You wanna tell them or should I?"

Lila giggled in response, stepping forward and getting the attention of one of the goons.

"Excuse me, but would you kindly radio Penguin and tell him the Buttercups have arrived."

The rest of the class looked at her like she was crazy, aside from the two who knew better. The henchmen looked around at each other, before one of them shrugged.

"At best, you've wasted thirty seconds. At worst, you've held up the wrong people and the boss gets pissed when he finds out."

So they wait patiently for ten minutes until a man in a formal suit with a large top hat and a monocle is staring them right in the face. All is silent, and then he breaks into a grin.

"Buttercups! It's so good to see you!"

Marinette and Lila grinned back, rushing in for hugs and hellos.

"Uncle Ozzy!"

The class were dumbfounded. But no one else messed with them the rest of the trip. After all, they were under Oswald Cobblepot's protection.

And if the steered clear of Marinette and Lila even more after that, that was no one's business.

Of course, the fact that they steered clear meant that Marinette, Lila and their friends were the only ones in Vibrancy originals at the end of trip gala. And it also meant that none of them could get even close once it was revealed that Marinette and Lila _were_ Vibrancy, on top of being in committed relationships with Jason Todd and Tim Drake, (who were sixteen and eighteen respectively, just shy of the girls' seventeen) since about six months before. Not to mention when the Jagged Stone concert they got to attend back in Paris a few weeks later where he and his son sang a song dedicated to Jagged's 'Rockin' nieces, and longtime fashion designers' Marinette and Lila Dupain-Cheng. Or when Audrey Bourgeois offered them internships over the summer, during which Blue Bird was defeated and revealed to be Adrien Agreste, and Lila, Marinette and their friends the heroes of Paris.

That is too say-

They learned not to fuck with Marinette and Lila Dupain-Cheng.


	5. Sleepy Fae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pixie Kyle- formerly known as Marinette Dupain-Cheng- loves her boyfriends. Really, she does. But she would love them a lot more of they wouldn't make her leave home without letting her convene with Tim for coffee.

Jon and Damian had, for some reason, decided that they were all three going to spend some time together today. And Pixie appreciated the effort- really she did. Between the magic training and all the commissions she had to finish for Mr. Wayne's winter gala, she had been feeling a little left out. For some reason Diana and Zatanna had decided to start her magic training at the worst possible time. And it didn't help that it was fall and starting to get cold. Ladybugs didn't mix well with cold.

She understood that her boys were eager, and they wanted to do something to help her feel included. After she'd told them how she felt they'd been bending over backwards (sometimes literally) to help remedy the problem. She didn't mind when they wanted time alone. It was good for them. All of them. And she liked that they could still see each other outside of their dynamic as a set of three. It kept the pressure off and made the relationship feel more casual and comfortable.

Still, she would've much preferred to do this later in the day. Or at least after she'd been able to get some coffee. These days she and Tim met up in the kitchen more often than not and got their coffee ready together. Then they would sit and talk for a bit before they went about beginning their days. It was a nice way to start her morning, but today she'd been kidnapped by her boyfriends.

They had set it an outfit for her, a pretty green velvet top and black fleece lined tights, black faux leather ankle boots and a faux fur lined black jacket. Once she was out of the shower and dressed, Damian brushed through her hair and styled it into a braided crown over a curtain of shining midnight. Jon had done her makeup so it still looked natural, but her cheeks were rosier, her lips shinier and her skin more touchably soft. She thought she looked almost like a porcelain doll.

Jon and Damian insisted she bring her sketchbook, which was fine. She often took it with her. And the day became a blur. They went all around Gotham, to sights that only a real native would know about. Or- sometimes, an amnesiac runaway. Still, she found inspiration everywhere in her dreamy, half asleep state. And when she wasn't drawing, she was napping, short snatches of sleep between consciousness. Eventually, Jon just agreed to carry her around to make it easier. She could sleep while they walked between places. Both boys smiled softly at her slumbering form, not that she was aware. 

Eventually, they did relent and her Pixie a coffee, sitting in a cozy little cafe. She sat between them, curled in on herself slightly with a warm cup in her hands.

" . . . I love you guys. But next time, let me get my coffee before we leave."

Damian chuckled softly.

"Noted."

Jon just grinned.

"Or maybe not. I kinda like having your legs around my waist."

Pixie's cheeks burned, and Damian arched a smug brow.

"I'm carrying her next time. I'd like to experience that feeling as well."

Her blush burned her ears, and she let out a little while.

"_Guuuuys! I'm still half asleep, no fair_."


	6. Adopters Anonymous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Wayne and Charles Xavier have developed the same problem. Hank and Alfred are sick of it.
> 
> From the universe of my X-Men / Batman crossover. The title is still a work in progress. 😅

Alfred had seen . . . Far too much in regards to Bruce Wayne. He knew far too much. Especially where his . . . Proclivities were concerned. This was the last straw. He'd sworn with Duke that the next time Bruce did this he'd put his foot down. It was time to take action.

~~~~~

Hank knew that Charles was a bleeding heart, but this was too much. Honestly- he couldn't keep this up. It was just like the professor to let his instincts lead him without actually thinking it through. This was the tipping point. He had to do something about this now. Or it would be too late.

~~~~~

Silence reigned in the room.

" . . . Alfred, why am I here?" Bruce Wayne rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He was too tired for this- he'd stayed up all night going over spreadsheets for work. He would much rather be in bed than . . . Wherever this was. The boys had zera'd him here.

Speaking of his boys, Dick and Jason were sitting at the front of the room facing him, alongside who he knew was Garfield Logan and two teenagers he didn't recognize, looking almost like they could be brother and sister. The girl sat between Garfield and the unfamiliar boy, each holding one of her hands and giving a little squeeze here and there. Directly across from him sat another man, another unfamiliar face though there was something he vaguely recognized. And behind the children stood Alfred and a man with blue fur. The father of these unfamiliar children perhaps???

"We are here, Master Bruce, because you and Mister Charles have a problem."

The blue man cleared his throat, pressing a button on the remote in his hand and powering on a projector mounted to the ceiling.

"Gentlemen, welcome to your fist AA meeting."

The man across from him scoffed lightly.

"Hank, this is ridiculous. I'm not an alcoholic, I haven't touched alcohol in years."

Alfred shook his head, and Jason sighed heavily.

"Mister Xavier, it means Adopters Anonymous. Not Alcoholics."

In the middle of the row of young adults, Garfield snickered. The girl beside him elbowed him, and he leaned over, clutching his stomach with a soft groan. The unfamiliar boy turned to face Alfred.

"Can I explain? I think Mister Wayne is a little confused."

Alfred nodded his consent, and the boy turned back around beaming.

"Gutentäg, I am Kurt Wagner. Pleased to meet you. This is my friend Echo. The blue man back there is Hank, and across from you there is Professor Charles Xavier, our headmaster. While talking with Jason and Dick, we noticed that you and the Professor have the same problem-"

"That you impulsively pick up strays without thinking-"

The girl, Echo, interrupted. Kurt huffed softly, rolling his eyes.

"I was attempting to say it with a bit more tact-" the girl grinned at him, and Garfield snickered into his hand. "-but yes. You both have an adoption problem, and we're here because it concerns us."

Bruce shared a look with the man across from him and arched a brow.

"You too?"

The professor sighed.

"Unfortunately, yes. Usually I limit myself to children with mutations and no one can say anything because often they are rejected by their homes and families. However, I recently took in three little girls who can shapeshift and two who cannot. What was I supposed to do? Split them up?"

Echo pursed her lips.

"Professor, the two without powers had a stable living situation. You just decided yours was better and took them away."

Charles looked affronted, and Bruce chuckled. Jason clicked his tongue.

"Don't think you're excluded from this Bruce. We know you took in two more kids too. You got Duke- what? Less than a year ago? That itch is becoming a problem."

Alfred decided to interrupt.

"Right you are Master Jason. On this note, I have compiled a slide show on the effects of your serial adoptive tendencies and the effect they have on those around you. Hank? The lights, if you please."

Bruce settled in. This was going to take a while. Alfred was thorough. Across from him, he saw the professor do the same. Perhaps he would get a friend out of this who wasn't in the Justice League. After all, the children seemed to think they had a lot in common. Jason and Kurt shared a look that was mildly horrified at the realization that they had just introduced the two serial adopters to one another . . . Fuck, this was not going to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brought to you by me saying "AA but it stands for Adopters Anonymous" at 3am and my boyfriend telling me to write it.


	7. Bad Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brought to you by my brainrot of essentially  
Jason: I do bad things, and I do them very well  
Marinette: I know . . . That's why I need your help

Marinette knew that logically, Red Hood was the last bat she should ask for help. But he was the only one she could ask really. He was the one she could depend on to help her with whatever may come. The one who would charge into battle alongside her. And as much as she loved the others, Jason was the one she trusted most.

Even though he worked with the bat, and Bruce would've gladly welcomed him home, Jason didn't live with his father and brothers. He refused. That could partially be because he just didn't feel like he belonged there anymore. There had been a time in his life where Wayne Manor had been his home. But that time was long gone, and Jason was too much of a realist to believe that just because they welcomed him home everything could be the same as it once was. Marinette had showed him that. As much as he hated Bruce sometimes, he had to admit that giving Marinette Isley and her friends some more professionaltraining was the best thing the man had ever done.

Tonight, Marinette herself was sitting on his window sill as Ladybird, legs dangling out the window and looking back at him with a worried look on her face.

"Jason . . . "

"Nette . . . What are you doing here?"

She swallowed hard, but she couldn't bring herself to answer. Looking down at the city, he noticed that her yo-yo was wrapped around her waist, put away.

"You know, you should really have your weapon in hand when your break into someone's house."

Marinette chuckled softly, turning around and pulling her legs inside to stand on her own two feet.

"Maybe so, but you wouldn't hurt me."

He looked mildly amused and also vaguely annoyed, much to Marinette's amusement. 

"And how do you know that?"

Sure didn't back down from the obvious challenge stepping forward so they were chest to chest and his sky blue eyes her her gunmetal grey, half lidded and shining with mischief and what he could only describe as attraction as her suit faded to a pair of sinfully tight suit pants and a white button up with generous amounts of cleavage, pale and perfect. Not a blemish in sight.

"Because I know _you_ Jason Todd. Better than you'd like to admit."

Jason swallowed hard, leaning towards her a bit, one hand snaking forward around her waist to pull her flush against him. When he kissed her hard, she didn't fight, melting into him and bringing her arms up around his neck. Before he knew it she was sitting on the kitchen island of his apartment, and he was between her parted legs, hands wandering over her. He pulled back a bit, leaning his forehead against hers to catch his breath for a moment.

"Marinette you don't understand, I do very bad things . . . And I do them very well."

She leaned forward again, their lips just centimeters apart as she looked him in his eyes.

"I know . . . That's why I need your help. But first, I need _you_. Jason, **_please_**."

And then her lips were on his and it was as though he was the very air she needed to breathe. Like the world ended and began with Marinette Isley until he didn't know where he ended and she began. Until he was catching her tears on his tongue as she pleased for him to move _faster, harder, **more**_. Until she begged him for everything.

And by God he wanted to give her _everything_. Everything she could ever want. He'd be damned if in that moment, with her beautiful form withing underneath him in pleasure and her pale skin darkened with marks from his teeth, he didn't understand what love felt like.

And he knew then, that he was whipped. He'd do anything she asked of him, give her anything she wanted, _be_ anything she wanted. He'd give this woman his everything if it killed him.


	9. The End Of The World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one isn't connected to any fic I just need to angst.
> 
> You can insert whichever batboy you'd like here. XD

_This is the way the world ends_

_This is the way the world ends_

_Not with a bang but with deafening,_

_Terrifying silence._

His world was perfect. After so many years with a control freak father and three domineering brothers. After the years of fighting and losing and dying and coming back to aid in hollow victories. After aliens, a man in a magic butterfly suit, seventeen doomsday plots and a woman who'd been in an incubator for fifteen years, they were safe. Safe and protected, for once, from the horrors of the outside world.

He'd hung up the mask for her. For his ladybug, his starshine, his everything. She was always so strong, but the thought of losing him sent her spiraling down familiar panicked paths in her mind. And he was strong, but the thought of her falling in the line of duty was a real, immediate fear that even he couldn't pretend wasn't there. The bats were always terrible at communicating their emotions, but this one was crystal clear. His girlfriend, and later wife, was not to be put in that kind of danger. And so, they had both hung up their masks.

But being a hero, unfortunately, did not come with an off switch. The court of owls was a real, immediate threat. A presence that darkened their metaphorical door and set them both on edge. She was beautiful, as always, but especially like this. She was made to fly through the air. Even he would never be so graceful, so lithe and dexterous. She looked, for all the world, like she was born to fly.

And like all domesticated birds, eventually . . . her wings were clipped.

Why were they here? The rain was pouring down like some movie cliche, and the feeling in his gut said something bad was going to happen. He couldn't have imagined how it would tear his world apart. He couldn't have imagined how futile and worthless everything after would seem. How cruel the world could possibly be to someone who'd lost everything so many times before.

They were retired- they should never have been here in the first place. And yet here he was, without her. The court of owls came extremely close to overpowering them. But Lady Noire was the force they needed to turn the tide. And when he stood there after the battle, tears concealed by the rain as he fell to his knees, hands still stained with her blood, he knew it hadn't been worth it. Nothing would've been worth losing her.

It was even less worth it when the autopsy revealed that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been five weeks pregnant at the time of her death.

_This is the way his world ends._

So now, here he stood atop Wayne Manor, reminiscing. All the memories held by his childhood home had been the last hope he'd dared have. The last thread holding together a broken man. And his grief overcame even those. So as he stood there, alone where there should've been a beautiful woman at his side to tell him about the stars overhead, he let the tears fall for the first time since he'd lost her.

No one was home. So there was no real harm that could be done. The worse part would be the cleanup. So when he stepped off the edge of the roof, he wasn't afraid. Or upset. Or even sad anymore.

_This is the way his world ends._

He didn't feel the impact.

_Not with a bang_

He was cold, so cold. But at least he knew that if the broken rib that came closer to impaling his lungs every breath didn't kill him, the hypothermia would.

_But with deafening_

He'd been long dead by the time Bruce Wayne came across his son's broken body on the lawn, swiftly cooling blood pooling beneath him in the winter air. He called for Alfred. Called Adrien. Called for anyone who might be able to do something.

_Terrifying_

His cries were unanswered, and soon the sun was coming up on a weeping father. It would set three days later on two gravestones, side by side.

'In loving memory of a wonderful wife, cherished sister, and beloved friend'.

'In loving memory of a loving husband, courageous brother, and selfless ally.'

As Bruce Wayne knelt beside the graves of his son and daughter-in-law, the world was still in a way it hadn't been since he lost his own parents. He hoped wherever they were, that broken man was whole again with his beloved back in his arms.

_Silence_


End file.
